Research house Aberdeen Group just released its list of the "
Top
100 Most Influential Technology Vendors for 2008
."
I scrolled through the list, nodding my head as I read that Microsoft was No.
1 and IBM, Cisco and HP all made the top 10. I was surprised, though, that Oracle
was No. 2, two full places ahead of IBM. Huh? And Google not in the top 10?
Hey, I think Google is overrated, but come on!
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 19, 20080 comments
XP SP3 has wreaked a fair bit of havoc on a small number of machines. Apparently,
some HP (and some other AMD) machines
can't
stop rebooting
when SP3 is installed.
Looks like an ex-Microsoft employee still has a soft spot for end users and
just released
a fix
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 19, 20080 comments
Last
week
, Doug wrote about Microsoft's attempt to limit the capabilities on
low-end computers that will run XP past its official retirement. Does this leave
developing countries with third-rate technology? Here are some of your thoughts:
I think the problem of the computers being third-rate depends on how
locked-down the systems are. If they can be upgraded by the user (memory and
processor), then it will be a good way for anybody to get a cheap PC and XP
and upgrade the hardware.
-Jim
The low-end XP computer would probably provide a more "enhanced user
experience" than one of our pokey top-of-the-line Vista machines.
-Jeff
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 19, 20080 comments
USB drives are clearly cool, and clearly getting cheap. My dad wears one around
his neck with all his important files. He knows the files are safe and, as long
as he can commandeer a PC, he can use them.
MokaFive is taking that concept one
step further: Put your files, yours apps and your OS on one honking thumb
drive. This way, your full environment is always with you.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 19, 20080 comments
I've always liked Microsoft executive Jeff Raikes. Back in the '80s and early
'90s, it was nothing to have dinner, lunch or just a simple sit-down with everyone
from Gates to Ballmer to Raikes. You get to know a person over a plate or two
of Thai food, and Raikes impressed me as being a straight-shooting, overall
nice guy, and a man who could make Mensa members feel stupid.
This year, Raikes announced that he's leaving Microsoft. But he ain't going
very far: Raikes will be the new
CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 15, 20080 comments
Microsoft has plans to
retire
XP in favor of Vista
in the relatively near future, but it will ship XP
for years to come on
low-cost
PCs
aimed at developing countries.
Apparently, though, Microsoft wants to make sure these PCs don't cut into Vista
PC sales. It's requiring
OEMs to make these XP machines with no more than a gig of RAM, an 80GB hard
drive or less, and a processor that pokes along at 1GHz or less.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 15, 20080 comments
Microsoft just can't seem to lose. If Vista doesn't catch on, sell XP instead.
If the Mac market picks up, make money on Office!
Microsoft says Office 2008 for the Mac is its best-selling
Mac suite ever. No wonder Microsoft remains committed to this product line.
In fact, Microsoft has given Office for the Mac
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 15, 20080 comments
HP is aiming to
scoop
up EDS
for a cool $14 billion or so. HP is already cleaning up in servers,
and has a sweet PC and laptop business. And no one can touch it in printers.
But today's complex market requires services -- lots of services.
IBM's service business is the biggest and most influential by far. It can help
companies take a top-to-bottom look at its infrastructure and redo the datacenter
with a more flexible and power-saving architecture. HP can do the exact same
thing, but lacks the sheer muscle of the IBM group.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 14, 20080 comments
Critics love to beat up on Microsoft for its security. But in its defense, Redmond
is clearly the biggest and most fun hacker target. It also has a ton of products.
So it makes sense that holes will be found and attacks mounted.
Microsoft, at least once a month, discloses (and closes) these holes in
a very public way. Meanwhile, the Web has no Patch Tuesday, and consequently
its holes can stay open for a long, long time.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 14, 20080 comments
Carl Icahn loves to make mischief. He buys just enough stock to have leverage,
then forces large companies to do his bidding, pocketing billions in the process.
Now, sitting
on 3.6 percent of Yahoo's shares, Icahn is reportedly looking to ditch the
board of directors for a group that's more amenable to a Microsoft bid. Icahn
likely bought at least a portion of Yahoo stock after it fell
in the wake of the failed Microsoft takeover. A new bid would, by definition,
be a premium over the current price -- and Icahn keeps the difference.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 14, 20080 comments
Tomorrow should already be on your -- or one of your minions' -- schedule,
so you won't forget to patch your Windows and client PCs. Luckily, this month
is pretty light with a
scant
four patches
.
Microsoft Word tops the list with a remote execution exploit just begging to
be fixed. Publisher also gets a plug (write me at [email protected]
if you're one of the few that actually use this program). Lastly, the Jet Database
Engine gets one of its flaws un-flawed.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 12, 20080 comments
Virtualization can be a confusing area to understand. By its very definition,
virtualization is an abstract endeavor. And with the ability to virtualize everything
from PCs to servers to mainframes to storage to files and I/O, no wonder so
many are perplexed.
Just the client alone is filled with many ways to virtualize. You can turn
a PC into multiple PCs with PC virtualization. You can isolate an app from the
registry through application virtualization. You can stream apps from a server
to a PC through application streaming or desktop virtualization.
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Posted by Doug Barney on May 12, 20080 comments